VALLEY SPRINGS — After Valley Springs grabbed a brief second-half lead, Norfork junior Macy Dillard drove to the basket at will in the fourth quarter, leading the Lady Panthers to a strong finish and a season sweep of the Lady Tigers.

Dillard scored all 11 of her points in the final quarter to guide the Lady Panthers to a 63-50 nonconference victory Tuesday night at Valley Springs.

Norfork’s Ivy McGowan had scored 11 in the first half, but Valley Springs kept attacking in the third quarter and took its first lead since the 1-0 mark when Callie Ray scored on a drive for a 36-35 lead with 4:20 left in the third.

The lead lasted for 1:07 until Kinley Stowers buried her third 3-pointer of the night to put Norfork up by two. The Lady Panthers led 42-38 at the end of three, and Dillard blew by her defender for a layup to open the fourth.

The Lady Tigers tied the score again at 44-44, and Dillard drove one-on-one to the hoop for another layup for another lead.

“The other girls had been more of a threat,” Dillard said of her teammates, “and it opened up an opportunity for me to have a wider angle to drive to. If I don’t have a shot, we’ll just keep rotating through until someone else does.”

Valley Springs tied it one last time, and McGowan buried a 3-pointer with 5:52 remaining to give the visitors the lead for good. Dillard made a steal and a layup to push the lead to 55-47, and after Valley Springs’ Brylee Graddy canned a 3, Dillard drove to the hoop for another layup to make it 57-50 with 3:00 left.

The Lady Tigers did not score again, and Norfork went 7 of 10 from the foul line in the fourth to seal the win.

“Before this week happened, I wanted us to show poise and determination and a willingness to fight through some adversity,” Norfork coach Josh Laymon said of his team’s stretch of three straight games against Jasper, Wonderview and Valley Springs.

“This is a good example of it. We played well in the first quarter, but Valley Springs is a good team and made a run and it got tied up in the second half. We were able to bear down and make our adjustments and extend our lead out late. I see some opportunities to improve.”

The Lady Panthers earned their first-ever victory over Wonderview — the only team to defeat the Lady Panthers last season — on Friday with an overtime win at Hattieville. Norfork had defeated Valley Springs 59-49 to begin the season at the Twin Rivers Classic.

The Lady Panthers have won 41 of their last 42 regular season games dating back through last season, but are still looking for ways to get better.

“It feels pretty good, but there are a lot of things we need to improve on still,” Dillard said. “A couple years ago, we would have been like, ‘oh my gosh, this is amazing.’ But now, we’re so focused on getting better.”

“It all depends on what the defense gives us,” Laymon said. “We have very unselfish young ladies on our team. They’re much more concerned with our team getting points than individually. Whenever the defense decides they want to take a specific thing away from us, we are more than willing to take advantage of it.”

Norfork returns to action Friday when it hosts Hillcrest in a showdown that is a nonconference contest, but has a bearing on seeding for the 1A-2 North District Tournament at the end of the season.

LADY PANTHERS (7-0)

McGowan 19, Dodson 13, Dillard 11, Stowers 10, Rangel 10.

LADY TIGERS (4-3)

Graddy 15, Moore 11, Bryant 9, Ray 8, Karr 4, Watson 3, Kilgore 2.

NORFORK 17 14 11 21 — 63
VALLEY 10 16 12 12 — 50

Tigers 71,

Panthers 30

A 25-9 second-quarter advantage put Valley Springs in control of the senior boys’ game, and a 12-0 run in the third period put the finishing touches on the Tigers’ victory.

Norfork pulled within 12-11 in the first quarter on a bucket by Brock Belding, but Valley Springs took an 18-11 lead into the second frame.

The hosts took a 43-20 lead into the intermission, and led 51-26 midway through the third when they scored 12 straight for a 63-26 advantage. The clock ran continuously in the fourth due to the sportsmanship rule.